Friday, April 27, 2012

October 2008 I tested and bought my Cambo WRS.The lens I was sent to test the system with the Cambo
was the Schneider 35 XL which I also bought.Fast-forward 36-months and I still have the very same Cambo and lens the
only difference is an upgrade from the Phase One P45+ to a P65+ digital
back.36-months brought me from testing at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
to using it in Jackson Hole WY.

It's now 6-months after the Jackson
Hole trip and I want to share my ongoing love affair with the
Cambo WRS and the lenses I use ,beginning with the 35mm.

Nothing is ever perfect all the time and that
includes the camera gear I use.One must
remember there's downsides to everything; the tripod I use to capture landscapes
with the WRS is a heavy beast; the flipside of the coin is it's very sturdy.Likewise the WRS has both pros
and cons however for the life of me I can't really decide on a con to describe.Lets talk about the lenses and in particular
the Schneider 35mm.

I quickly found I needed to use a center
filter on the lens and vaguely
remember buying it within 60-days of the lens and has never been
taken off since.I also found there's a
limitation to the amount of shifts I can get by with when using the 35mm.Normally I'll go just a little beyond that
point as I intend to resize the image later and I'd rather have slightly too
much than slightly not enough.I've
found that while 5mm shifts are good I can "get by" going slightly
longer at say 10mm.

Side note:I
also have the Schneider 72mm and the shifts on that lens are
good to 15mm while the Schneider 120mm go all the way to 20mm.

The Achilles' Heel to the 35mm is the corners.However, once you understand that you can
work to correct it.

I hope to use the following images to better describe what
the 35mm is capable of when used with the Phase One P65+.The images have been processed using a
combination of C1 Pro, and CS5.LCC's
were taken and analyzed using C1 Pro technical wideangle option.

These two image fresh out of C1 Pro after LCC applied.

Initial shot lens shifted 10mm up

(f/11 1/125 ISO100)

25x18.7 (8984x6732)

Second image 10mm down

25x18.7 (8984x6732)

Image merged in CS5

25x21.3 (8997x7675)

100% crop lower left

6x9 (2160x3240)

100% crop lower right

6x9 (2160x3240)

100% crop center

9x6 (3240x2160)

Resized

36x24 (12960x8640)

Resized 100% crop

6x9 (2160x3240)

Resized 100% crop

6x9 (2160x3240)

Before - After

Side by side comparison of lower left crops

Images are different in that the bottom corner was deleted in
the cropping process thus shifting the lower left corner up several inches. The same for the lower right corner.

Before - After

Final image after processing and resized to 24x36

I'll write more about the 72 and 120mm lenses if there's
feedback on this.

Thank you for visiting and remember your comments and
suggestions are always welcome.

According to Wikipedia, Macrophotography is nothing more
than close-up photography, usually of very small objects; furthermore, it can be considered one in
which the size of the subject on the negative is greater than life size, it
also refers to a finished image where the subject is larger than life
size.A good starting point for more
information can be found here.Macrophotography can be fun and very
challenging at the same time which is one reason I like doing it.

f/8 1/60 ISO100

f/11 1/125 ISO50 w/flash

f/11 1/350 ISO100

f/13 1/125 ISO50 w/flash

Cheating with a 100% crop from above. You just have to love the P65+.

Almost as soon as I switched back to using the Phase One DF
body I began considering macro images.While there are several options available I
decided on the Mamiya Macro 120mm f/4 manual focus lens.The 120mm offers a maximum f/stop of f/4 and
a minimum of f/32, it also offers a magnification ration of 1:1.Somewhat lightweight and very easy to focus
this lens has turned out to be great not only for macro but normal focal length
as well. I want to thank my friends at Capture Integration for helping
me find the right lens.

Going from one extreme to another which shows just how well
the 120mm can perform.

Matilda from White Sands National Monument

f/8 1/250 ISO50

This isn't a crop

Another test of the Metz flash

f/11 1/125 ISO100

I picked up the lens last month while in the Everglades with Dave Gallagher and have been using both as
a mid telephoto and macro.This is the
only overlapping focal length I have between my Cambo WRS technical camera and
Phase One DF.

f/11 1/125 ISO100

f/11 1/125 ISO100 with flash

f/11 1/125 ISO100 with flash

Sometimes you just get lucky and end up with this.

The lens shade almost touched

f/11 1/125 ISO100 with flash

f/8 1/125 ISO100

I began testing not only the lens but myself as well shortly
after receiving the lens and while I feel the lens is more than up to the task
I'll need more work.The images included
here include the early tests as well as more recent. Some are single images while a few are the
result of stacking multiple images.

And finally,

f/8 1/125 ISO100 with flash

This is the result of initial testing, testing the lens,
testing of the photographer, and in many ways testing of the digital back
used.What I've learned so far is the lens is more
than capable of giving me what I want.Likewise the Phase One P65+ will give me the image files that are more
than large enough to contain the information captured; sometimes in a
single capture and most of the times to crop in at 100%.I've also learned than this is not a fast
procedure and the success or failure rests solely on the photographer.

The post processing used is the result of Capture One
Pro in each image, Photoshop CS5 is a few and Nik HDR Efex Pro in one.

I'm barely scratching the surface of the subject and will
post more as I grow.

Thank you for allowing me a chance to share and as always
welcome comments, and suggestions.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Illustrated Man
is a 1951 book by Ray Bradbury.It's
also a 1969 film based on 3-short stores from the same book starring Rod Steiger.While Don never read the book he remembers
seeing the film and the fact that the main character Carl played by Steiger is heavily
tattooed. While Carl's body is heavily
tattooed his face wasn't.

Phase One DF Mamiya 120mm f/11 1/250 ISO200

﻿

Phase One DF Mamiya 120mm f/11 1/250 ISO200

Which brings us to Mr. Daniel Tavarez of AlamogordoNM.
We met Daniel last month in Alamogordo as we were having breakfast and
asked him for permission to photograph his ink.

Anyone who knows us knows we go out of our way not to
photograph people.Our preferred photography is landscape,
nature and wildlife;however every once
in a while you need to go outside the lines and do something unusual.

Phase One DF Mamiya 120mm f/11 1/500 ISO200

Phase One DF Mamiya 120mm f/11 1/500 ISO200

Daniel met us at the hotel where we were staying at and
posed.We found him to be a very kind
person despite the outward appearance. We want to share the results of that shooting and wish Daniel and his family all the best.

Phase One DF Mamiya 120mm f/11 1/250 ISO200

While showing Daniel the images on our laptop he remarked
that it was the very first time he had a good look at the back of his head.

Again many thanks to Daniel for allowing us to capture his
ink and share it with others.

Your thoughts, suggestions and comments are always welcome.

Sandy & Don

The images were all processed using Capture One Pro including the black & white conversion.

Monday, April 9, 2012

We want to share the images Sandy took on our return trip to White
Sands.Sandy decided to use just one lens on both
days and these are samples of what the Canon 1DsIII along with the EF 24-70
f/2.8 is capable of producing.

70mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

58mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

As noted earlier we enjoyed ourselves so much in White Sands
we decided to stop there again on our return home.We arrived late Sunday morning to find great
skies and shoot for several hours before leaving to check into our hotel.

White Sands is unique in that in visiting, you're likely to
see kids of all ages using a plastic disk to slide down the hard packed
sand.We noticed this during our first
visit and again this time.We had also
seen an area set aside for those who might want to bring their horses.What we weren't expecting was to see a camel.

Matilda and her fans

Posing

70mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

70mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

We met a very nice couple who brought their 2-dogs and camel
to the dunes for exercise.This is truly
a sight you don't see everyday.Matilda,
is a 10-year old female camel the couple has had since it was born.As you might expect Matilda quickly drew a
crowd with the owners being kind enough to share their knowledge.It also turns out that camel hair feels very
similar to that of buffalo.Go figure...

70mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

55mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

70mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

We think Matilda enjoyed seeing herself in the camera lens.

﻿

70mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

We left the park shortly after meeting Matilda to check-into
our hotel. Checking the weather forecast
for the following day we found the morning should be a repeat of the day with mostly
cloudy yet way less wind. Perfect conditions
for a sunrise shot.

Sunrise

55mm f/8 1/200 ISO125

Sunrise

40mm f/8 1/200 ISO100

Sunrise

28mm f/8 1/200 ISO50

Sandpit

28mm f/8 1/200

24mm f/8 1/200 ISO100

﻿

50mm f/8 1/200 ISO100

Waking up the next day we drove the 14-miles to the park entrance
to wait for the opening. We entered the park
shortly after 7 a.m. with sunrise expected close to 7:30. While not certain what to expect we nevertheless
weren't disappointed.

Endless

24mm f/8 1/320 ISO100

A study of wind patterns in the sand.

32mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

40 mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

24mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

24mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

27mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

27mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

25mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

Anyone else see feathers?

24mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

Shadows

40mm f/11 1/320 ISO50

The images were all processed using Capture One Pro.

Thank you for allowing us to share and remember your thoughts,
comments, and questions are always welcome.

About Us

Subscribe To

Followers

Follow by Email

Follow Us on Instagram

WE'RE ON FACEBOOK TOO

"The trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively the "Trademarks") displayed on this Web Site are registered and unregistered trademarks of Don Libby its affiliates and others. Nothing contained on this Web Site should be construed as granting by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license or right to use any Trademark displayed on this Web Site without the written permission of Don Liiby or such third party that may own the trademark displayed on this Web Site. Your misuse of the Trademarks displayed on this Web Site, or any other content on this Web Site, except as provided herein, is strictly prohibited."